SOUTHEND United midfielder Ryan Leonard took little satisfaction from his wonder goal against Walsall on Tuesday night.

The 22-year-old smashed a stunning 25 yard shot in to the roof of the net at Roots Hall.

But it was not enough to stop Blues suffering a 2-1 defeat in the first round of the Capital One Cup clash.

And that frustrated Leonard.

“I enjoyed the goal but we lost the game so it doesn’t really mean that much anymore,” said the midfielder.

“When it comes to free-kicks the likes of Jack Payne and Ben Coker have the ability to be able to whip the ball over and around a wall.

“But I don’t worry about any of that, I just try and hit it after having the ball rolled in to the path and luckily enough it went in against Walsall.”

After his impressive equaliser, the Shrimpers enjoyed a sustained period of pressure.

However, they were unable to find a second goal.

And Leonard felt that ultimately cost Phil Brown’s side the game.

“The crowd were up after the goal and we were really on top for a good 10 or 15 minutes but not scoring in that time hit us hard,” said the former Plymouth Argyle trainee.

“At that time I thought there was only one team going to go on and win the game but unfortunately we couldn’t take our chances.

“It’s still early in the season and we’re still finding our feet but the performance up against a team from League One was very encouraging indeed.”

As a result, Leonard feels confidence is still high among his team-mates as they bid to get back to winning ways against Stevenage at Roots Hall this Saturday.

“Our spirits are still high because we played well,” said Leonard.

“We want to put things right again by beating Stevenage now and making it two wins out of two in the league.”